


Shards: The Fifth

by taichara



Series: Scattered Silver [5]
Category: Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy IV - Free Enterprise
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-14 01:18:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16030022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: A collection of five drabbles, for Table Five ofLuxken27's Summer Challenge 2018.





	1. An Ounce Of Prevention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosa is going to be ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Prompt:_ "cream"

Was it pointless to check and re-check the healing supplies in the Enterprise's cargo hold? Maybe, maybe; but Rosa was doing it anyway, because damn pointlessness and damn her own nerves besides.

_And what if I'm the one too injured to use magic, or any other of the dozen different ways to incapacitate me? Then where would we be?_

Utterly helpless, that's where. So Rosa checked the seals on the stoneware flasks, the glass vials with their milky contents, the ointments and all the rest. Then the stocks of dressings. And took notes every step.

She wasn't taking any chances.


	2. A Guiding Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang is a rock. A hard one, when necessary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Prompt:_ "stern"

There were times, Yang was happy enough to concede, that maintaining his composure was, if not impossible, at least something of a trial.

Take this very moment:

Cecil -- no doubt the paragon of dismay behind that forbidding mask -- despairing over not pulling his weight here on a mountain filled with the undead.

Rosa throwing herself in too many directions at once: leader, healer, major combatant.

Tellah, old fool, if well-meaning, in over his head and refusing to admit it.

And they were not even halfway to the pinnacle.

Well, there was nothing for it, then.

Yang drew a breath, and --


	3. A Mirror Darkly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kain has to let something slip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Prompt:_ "especially"

"Now, you _knew_ that we were going to go back to Baron."

Rosa was half concerned, half exasperated; Kain could tell from her tone, before he pulled his lance from the gator's carcass and turned to look. And, oh yes, there was certainly exasperation there. He steeled himself.

"Of course I did. I said as much, did I not?"

"You did. You didn't say anything about our _friends_ in the tavern."

"Because I didn't know --"

"What do you know about, Kain?"

So softly spoken. He winced. And didn't want to remember, but ...

"... Mind who waits on the throne. 

"... Bahamut's shadow."


	4. Gifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's not a fruitcake ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Prompt:_ "important"

"There's something else in with our packages."

The Kaipo shopkeeper had included an extra parcel, bundled in burlap. Cecil brought it back to the shop, but to no avail -- she waved him away with an odd little smile, saying they should keep it because it might be useful later.

Clustered around a table on one of Entereprise's lower decks, they all stared at it. Kain prodded the black-violet mass with a dagger; Edge glanced to Cecil, who shrugged helplessly.

"She called it 'dark matter', but I have no idea what that is.

"We'll just bring it with us, I suppose?"


	5. What Price This Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cecil is cleansed, but not of his doubts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Prompt:_ "feel"

He expected there to be a void; some kind of hollow left inside him, like the hole left behind after the worm was purged from the rosebud. But there was nothing of the sort.

If the darkness he'd invited in did left no wound, than what _did_ it do to him?

Surely the answer was not 'nothing'; he'd felt the numbing, felt the rot.

And --

It did not seem right for the Mount to simply make him whole again, touch his blighted soul with brilliance and grant him this gift of light.

There should have been some penance, however small.


End file.
